Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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/Boom!/

/Boom!/

/Boom!/

…

"!"

As the soundwaves of the artillery cannons being released echoed into his ears, impacting his chest like the waves on a beach, Dale's time to think ended as he forced himself to move.

There were over 12 beams of light flying toward him at subsonic speeds, he couldn't stay still any longer, even if he wanted to

He quickly identified 3 shots as somewhat off course, so he ignored those, focusing on the rest…

There were about 5 light beams aiming at him and different parts of his body, he may not be injured by them, but if the shots hit more sensitive parts of his body like his face, the damage may end up as significant.

The problem was, given Caladgolg's speed, he would still be hit by one of them even if he tried to evade.

/Flash.../

"Shit..."

/Kick!/

With the light of the beams flashing on his face, Dale kicked the sword, jumping in the air as he evaded all attacks…

However now, his body was on course with three more that were previously aiming at his companions!

Obviously, that was his plan, it worked better in his head though...

"HUPP!"

/FWOOSH!/

Still, he felt no fear, Dale swung his spear down with as much finesse and strength as he could muster, trying to deflect as many as he could.

He was still far from having the sublime control Testros had, so instead of trying to go any deeper into it, Dale decided to go all in on his strength, channeling every ounce of his being onto his strikes.

He didn't move his Mana to create a barrier but to empower himself.

He couldn't compete with them in terms of substance, so instead of wasting energy to just have it break on collision, Dale used his body as the Vessel for the energy to rampage.

/CLANG!/

/CLANG!/

/CLINK!/

Alone, Dale blocked three of the artillery shots while also somewhat deflecting another with his spear, but a few went past him, aiming directly at Ubuk!

"URG!"

Grunting from the pain, Dale spun in the air, his job completed...

It was now someone else's problem.

"Humph!"

Up above, reacting accordingly to the situation, Testros displayed incredible judgmental ability by having Ubuk spin in the air, evading a few more of the shots as he slashed his sword toward the ones that got too close.

He had always been observing Dale, he had to, after all, he needed to know where those shots were coming from so he could evade them.

/FUOM!/

/FUOM!/

/Caw!/

One of the beams of light grazed Ubuk's left wing, burning a few feathers, but it didn't do much aside from that.

Albeit the bird voice its displeasure quite loudly!

Though like that, they survived another volley.

…

/A minute later.../

/GASP!/

With the wind on his feet and chest, Dale breathed heavily as he stabilized his breathing.

/Breathe in.../

After being impacted with three shots at the same time, Dale felt as if he had been hit in the chest by a massive ocean wave, stealing the air from his lungs.

It almost led to an accident because Dale was momentarily dazed, forgetting to call Caladgolg to fetch him up in the air.

But Testros was observant, having Ubuk fetch him with its claws

/Breathe out.../

"H-How much longer?!" Dale asked Testros as he tried to recover his breathing

'Dammit, I lost conscience there for a good minute!'

'Next time, I'll put a bigger effort into dampening the impact...'

"Not much! We're already out of the Last Fortification coverage area!" Testros replied excitedly as he looked down

'The Castle wasn't really that hard, the problem is how far those Cannons can shoot.'

'I can understand now why no one ever crossed it, if its this bad in the sky, imagine how terrible it is on the ground...'

'The level of engineering to maintain those... But now that I know there are survivors...'

'There's a pretty high chance some of them might've maintained these machines operable since there must be safe ways to at least enter and leave the Last Fortification.'

'But given how they never contacted the Karkavan, they may be unable to cross to the other side safely.'

'Or... Something is keeping them inside actively.'

Deep in thought, Testros was already starting to understand the intricate politics of the survivors despite never meeting them.

A coincidence? Or mayhaps, the natural assumption?

"... Regardless, we can't drop our guards yet, even if the cannons can't reach us anymore, there are many other things that can." Testros continued after a few seconds

"Rest for now, this is only the start of our journey."

"Huff… Haaa..."

Dale did not reply, breathing deeply once more instead.

'There's a lot to cover still...'

'My Stats… Are only for show.'

'I'm incomparable to him.'

'While he perfectly deflected each strike with minimum movements, I barely stopped them with my bare body.'

'It may not be wrong to say I surpass him in every Stat…'

'Though… I may be pushing myself a tad too much.'

'He trained for decades while I was barely here for a month.'

'But time waits for no one, today he was here to help… But what about next time?'

'Is it a matter of talent? Yes, Testros trained for decades, but he only had the basics he learned from the Corps...'

'The enlightenment might've helped him together with the techniques he received that matched his own assumptions and created mastery, but even then...'

'I heard he used to fight a lot in the forest during his younger years to train, but he eventually gave up.'

'He always came to me as a simple hardworking old man, so I may have underestimated the amount of practical experience he actually had.'

Dale's expression was dark, he felt like the little squire that tagged along with the adventurers of the old and experienced Knight.

Always getting himself into trouble only to have the Knight save him and say something philosophical about their little episode.

He needed time but everything was happening so fast…

...

"Wait... Where's my Sword?... Oh..."

In the end, after he rested a little and his head cooled down, he remembered he forgot to call Caladgolg only to realize it had always been floating next to him.

While his spear never left his hand, to the point he forgot he was holding it.

At least in this way, he could praise himself, as a warrior that let his weapons fall was nothing short of an embarrassment.

So after strapping his spear to his back once more, he gave Ubuk a slight rest by riding Caladgolg to fly in the skies along side it.

He wanted to witness the beauty of nature for a few moments... Alone.

…

/A bit more later…/

/Fwoosh…/

"..."

'What a sight…'

High in the skies, Dale turned his head to look to the left.

There, far away in the distance… He saw it.

A towering wall going into the horizon, hidden by the faint mist rising from the forest.

Many other constructions rose from the woods from time to time, making him wonder about their purpose.

It was almost as if there was a city beneath the canopy of the trees, waiting for a worthy adventurer to explore it.

He didn't know what kind of adventures awaited him there, but they would have to wait a bit longer since he couldn't see himself having the time to go around them anytime soon.

"Dale! We... We've arrived!" Testros said with lingering emotion

"Oh?!"

Turning his head once more, he saw a massive brown plateau rise from the forest around it, almost like the Wall in a sense…

But he knew that this thing wasn't a natural occurrence like a mountain, or a man-made creation, like the wall, it was the dead husk of a once gigantic living being…

"It's way bigger than I thought…" He muttered as he scratched his head

Dale had removed his helmet since it wearing it every time was getting was his nerves.

'The bigger an Elven Clan Tree is, the longer their history as the trees keep growing until the day they die.'

'Given this size… Wouldn't its branches go all the way beyond the wall and perhaps reach all the way to Resko?'

'At the very least we would've been able to see it from there, as it must be reinforced that Resko was once built close to the center of the Upper portion of Forest…'

'Now Resko is pretty much outside of it due to Desertification.'

'Is this how an ant sees a tree?'

It was truly a domineering sight, just imagining the splendor of what was once here made Dale's heart beat a little faster.

'Truly, I can't imagine anything that could've brought such a behemoth down… Unless…'

'Did the three die of natural causes?'

'Elven Clan trees can live on average way longer than others since they're usually taken care of by an entire civilization.'

'But even that has its limits… Perhaps the Elves just realize its time was coming and so they left willingly to minimize losses?'

"What do we do now?" Dale asked as he went back to his spot

"What else? We approach the area!... Albeit... Let us move closer to the canopy of the trees." He said as his voice grew light

"Even if I desire to meet with them... The contrary may not be the same."

"I can't be idealistic in this regard, I'm not that foolish..."

He turned to Dale in the air.

"If you ever see me doing something like that, you may stop me."

"You mean, like now?"

/Chuckle.../

"I'll take it you understand."

Dale also smiled a little.

/CAW!/

The trio slowly approached the Old Trunk, what mysteries did it hide after so long?

...

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Notes

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